Drunken Deals
A/N: Thanks to all the reviews I got. I'd most likely be continuing this without them for my own guilty pleasure, but the reviews certainly made me want to continue it even more. So, yeah, here we go with a new chapter. Since it's never stated completely about what happened with Remus' parents I'm going to be cliché and his dad left his mum, but his mum's such a dear, so she's happy because I want her to be.
Chapter Two: What Are We? Sailors?
"No, mum, no seriously, mum." Remus Lupin blushed as his mother planted a kiss on his cheek and pulled him into an embrace. Carys Lupin was generally overprotective, intense and brash. Understandably so, she had been like this her entire life but even more so in the recent years since Remus had been born and his father had left them.
Her son, on the other hand, was only intense in the way of being intensely calm and thoughtful, but received the rather burdensome gene that contained her overprotective attitude. Much to his friend's dismay he applied this to them constantly and was always trying to advise them on what, and often on what not, to do. Yet, and this was possibly the largest flaw in the werewolf's personality, he never enforced the ways he tried to protect them whereas his mother succeeded in controlling much of his home life. For his benefit, she said.
"Alright, you have a good year Remus," his mother said, finally letting him go. She did this every year, gave him a look as if she was memorizing him, and then would smile tightly, and find some sort of problem with him. "I don't know when was the last time you got a haircut, but we really should have stopped somewhere on the way here. Christmas vacation, I think, alright?"
"Right, mum, right. Oh and speaking of people who need a haircut." Sirius and James were only a few hundred feet away, rapidly approaching with James' parents in tow. The last owl post that Remus had received had been a joint piece between the two letting him know that Sirius had moved into the Potter household after running away from his own home. It had only been a matter of time. "I'll see you at Christmas, then mum. Love you." Muttering the last words as his friends came into earshot.
"Oi, Moony, didn't know you had it in you! What a catch!" As Remus' mother insisted on giving him yet another kiss he was forced to be ridiculed by Sirius while James laughed in the background. "Hello there Mrs. Lupin, I bet you're just bursting at what antics we'll be getting your little Remmy into this year." Padfoot and Prongs exchanged devilish grins at these words and Remus sighed with a small smile.
Things were back to normal.
Platform 9 ¾ was in chaos. Enough people were being reunited that you couldn't go a few feet without hearing some girl squeal or the vociferous laughter of a group of friends meeting up. Younger kids were accompanied by their parents, and the older students laughed as if they hadn't been brought to King's Cross by their guardians and had never had to suffer the embarrassment of being seen off by them.
They had a brief encounter with Lily Evans, which James cut short and, with a wink, left his two friends on their own. The two decided to find a compartment to sit in for the train ride before they were picked over and they were forced to share with some rather greasy companions. Remus wasn't to be staying with them as he had been appointed a Prefect over the summer.
"I'm not even joking though; I really think they're going to get together this year." They were discussing James and Lily, who they could see out the window of their compartment. They could see the redhead far off in the crowd and could only guess that their friend was with her. "Honestly, everyone knows it's going to happen eventually. One of us four has to start dating someone. No one expects me too, thank the gods."
"So was it an eventful summer of conquest for Sirius Black? Not that it could compare to mine; of course, we all know how I am with the ladies." If sarcasm was a disease Remus was in desperate need of a cure.
"Oh, every day mate, right in front of my family and everything. Mum was so proud, bless her soul. And then I when I left and went to James' house, oh! Let me tell you the fun we had." Oh, Merlin, it was spreading like the plague.
"I'll take that as a no." Sirius shrugged and Remus took that as an agreement to his statement. "I'm surprised. Shouldn't you be on your deathbed or something? For me, I mean, it's different, but I had the impression that you were different from the rest of us and could only live so long without sex. I appear to be mistaken."
"Oh, no, Rem, no you're completely right about that one," Sirius said, slumping against the window and almost looked as if he was in pain. Sometimes Remus wasn't sure if he was just putting on an act or if he was being truthful. It was so hard to tell with Sirius. "I'm almost to my breaking point, but there's hope! Look at all those girls out there. Admittedly, it is getting hard to find someone I haven't shagged before, but I'm sure there are some new girls out there."
"Another year of not settling down with anyone, then?" Remus asked. Sirius laughed in response, for what seemed like the longest time, which made Remus feel that his question was completely foolish.
"Well you never know, but, no, Moony, I'm not dating anyone steadily right now if that's what you mean." He laughed again, but this time Remus just felt himself turn pale. It had to be an accident. Sirius couldn't remember that piece of parchment, could he? The words out of his mouth had only just made Remus remember the agreement they had made. "Rem, are you alright? Excited that I'm not-"
Now they were both silent, and Remus was almost sure that somehow Sirius had remembered the words they had written down while they were drunk in the common room the previous year. They were staring at each other and Remus knew he wasn't matching Sirius' burning look that seemed to question the entire situation.
Does this mean what I think it means?
"Stop admiring each other's looks, I'm here now." Leave it to James to break up the most awkward circumstance of Remus' life. He wasn't sure whether he should turn around and punch him in the face or hug his mate, thanking him for saving him. "And look what the stag dragged in," he continued, oblivious to the obvious discomfort in the compartment.
"Hey guys!" Peter Pettigrew was as eager to please them as ever. Sirius and Remus mumbled their hellos and then the werewolf dismissed himself quickly citing the need to get to the Prefect compartment, although it was mostly a need to get out of this compartment and fast.
"Are you telling me…that you and Sirius agreed to-to date each other?" The last words were whispered in a hushed tone by Lily Evans, whose eyes were wide as saucers, staring at Remus as if he were completely mental. Maybe he was. They sat in the Prefect's compartment, huddled away from all the other badge-wearers. Remus wasn't one to confide in many people, but Lily was one person he found he could trust.
"I know, it's completely weird. I realize that, and I know there's, what, zero gay guys at our school or anywhere for that matter. At least, zero ready and willing to admit it. But we were drunk Lily, doesn't that make it, like, alright?" Remus wasn't sure if he was trying to justify his actions that night or justify actually dating Sirius. His words could be taken either way.
Lily seemed to take it in the latter fashion. "Well you two would get more than enough criticism, hell, I don't even know if I…look, it would be weird is all I'm going to say on the matter." She held up her hands and backed away slightly. "I don't want to get too into this, because I like you Remus and I'm not going to discourage you if you really want to do this, but I don't want you to get hurt. It's like if me and James dated, I mean everyone would be shocked, but if it worked out in the end we were happy our true friends would be happy for us, you know?"
It wasn't like if James and Lily went out at all, Remus thought, although he nodded lightly at her words. Some people would be surprised at that couple, but it wasn't like Remus and Sirius at all. For one thing, they were talking about a heterosexual relationship here, and whether or not people expected them to get together, it was a boy and a girl and everyone anticipated that.
"I suppose you're right," Remus lied. "And while we're at it how about James and Severus start dating as well. Hopefully mine and Sirius' relationship would pale in comparison and we could skip down the halls and at least have people thinking 'Well, they may be complete cream puffs, but they're not the weirdest couple around here, now are they?' Do you think that would work?" This scathing side of his attitude rarely showed, but right now was one of the times that it was as obvious as a giant in a room full of dwarfs.
"Oh, shut up, you," Lily muttered, a blush falling onto her cheeks. Remus took this as a sign that he had made a very valid point.
The Great Hall served as much more than a place for consuming food. It was a vessel of information. If you wanted to know something about someone your best bet was to eavesdrop on their conversation or listen to the gossip that was being spread. If one was lucky they would hear a few choice words being said of a particularity interesting piece of news and pass it on to others. Thus creating the transport through which rumors flowed.
The first day of term was the busiest night for this. Words were floating around left and right about what people had done over summer vacation. James had, apparently, bedded a widow and was planning on proposing to her. "And you don't even tell your best mates," Sirius said in a solemn tone. The Animagus had avoided Remus' stare since they had sat down and they both blushed lightly every time they were caught looking at one another.
Remus was barely talking because, for whatever reason, he was certain word had gotten out about the agreement made the year before. Whether someone was noticing the red faces of him and his mate or if they had overheard him speaking to Lily about the matter. Of course no one was talking about it, but his paranoia gripped him and he kept so quiet that James commented on it.
"Is it that time of the month already, Moony?" Always clever, the raven-haired boy spoke with a twinkle in his eyes. "You can always tell us these sorts of things, you know." He reached out and touched Remus' hand, but Remus pulled his hand away, much too hastily and James gave him a look of confusion. "Mood swings and everything, are you sure you're not pregnant, Rem?"
"Sorry, er, I haven't been sleeping well. And, yeah, next week is the start of a new cycle after all." James took this excuse at face value and shrugged returning to talk to Sirius about an unknown subject. Sirius, though listening to James, looked at Remus and raised his eyebrows. They were going to have to talk, and soon.
"Are you sure you're alright Remus?" To his left sat Peter who was looking at him with a weird respect that he usually reserved for their other two friends. Remus attributed this new attitude towards his shiny Prefect badge and sighed inwardly at the thought. He knew why he had been appointed to the job and also knew he would never really exercise his power over his friends.
"I'm just sleepy is all, Peter, don't worry about me, alright?" Peter nodded and returned to eating his food. Despite his encouraging smile and words, Remus wasn't feeling very well at all. In fact, he was willing to say that he felt rather sick. But he wasn't ill at all. And, he thought to himself angrily, he was not lovesick in the least.
Well, maybe a little.
"Going to bed early?" Remus didn't bother looking up from his book when he asked this question of James. Early was nearly midnight with only three people left in the common room. Remus' heart was beating fast enough to promote the notion that there were several other students in the room anyway. After all, it was now or never.
"I'm thinking I won't be staying up late this year. I mean, sixth year is really important right? Wouldn't want to slack off or anything." Sirius sniggered from where he lay on the couch and Remus raised his eyebrows and looked at his friend skeptically. "Well, alright, maybe I said that last year. But I mean it this time. Merlin, I said that last year as well, didn't I? Fuck it, I'm going to bed. Don't you two get up to anything crazy without me."
Silence settled over the fire-lit room once James ascended to the dormitories. Remus pretended that the subject of Astronomy was absolutely fascinating to him, but couldn't help but turn to the page of Canis Major and stare at the star Sirius for a few quiet minutes. Frustrated with himself he shut the book and let it fall on the floor in front of him with a heavy sigh.
"I understand you aren't dating anyone, how did we put it? Steadily?" Sirius said, looking at him from the couch opposite of the chair Remus sat in. He was grinning as if this whole thing was a lead-up to an incredibly funny punch line, and Sirius had heard the joke before too many times. He knew how it would end and it wasn't funny to him anymore, but he was amused as to what Remus' reaction would be.
"That's how we put it. And, no, I'm not. It also seems that summer vacation is over, unless this is all a dream and I'm completely mistaken. In which case, this is extremely embarrassing." Who was he kidding? This was extremely embarrassing no matter what.
"Touché. But I think the real point here is: Do deals count if said deal-makers were drunk at the time the idea was conceived and led out? Are we fully responsible for our actions, and, furthermore, are we really going to go through with this?" Sirius made many compelling points, all of which Remus was unsure of how to answer. "I'll tell you this right now, I'm willing to do this for the shock value for alone, but I know that's not your style Moony and I respect you for that. So you can choose what we're going to do about this. Of course if we do date, you know what that means, right?"
Oh, gods, he didn't really mean… "No. What?" His voice was squeaky and nervous.
"Well I don't cheat on people, Rem. Not that I've ever really had a chance to. Point being, as you so astutely noted earlier, I need sex. And I need to snog. Dating, for me, goes hand in hand with those principals. So dating me includes those as fringe benefits. But whether you view those as such decides whether you want to do this or not. So tell me, Remus, what do you want to do?"
A pause was inevitable. Remus had to soak all this information up, understand it fully. It wasn't very hard to understand. He had two choices here. First, he could just say no, and Sirius would be fine with that and no one would ever be any the wiser. Second, he could say yes and acquire the 'fringe benefits,' but end up being ridiculed, he was sure, by the majority of the student body. Yet, the first option upset him almost as much as the second, simply because, and here was the kicker, he wanted to know what it was like to date Sirius Black.
"Alright. We made a deal after all."
A/N: As you (hopefully) can see, this story isn't going to be about Sirius and Remus getting together. Of course, there's some awkwardness at first, but they're pretty much dating. Oh, yes, and the chapter is so named because this is a ship (the best one, I might add) after all, and Remus and Sirius are sailors. ;D And Remus' mother's name means love, which I thought was appropriate. Creepy thing about this story that you probably don't care about. We did a puzzle in my English class today and it was about the star constellations, and the first two stars were Sirius and Orion. If that's not a sign, I don't know what is. Review even if you hate it.
